Enemy No. 1 from Day 1

This is in response to M.J. Akbar’s article (“Pakistan has advantage over India,” Jan. 25). I am stunned by his sweeping generalizations. Pakistan has itself been a victim of terrorism. Akbar and Hindu outfits like Shiv Sena, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are always making baseless allegations against Pakistan. India has been trying to destabilize Pakistan from Day One. We never started any war. We were always sucked into them. Perhaps, Akbar should read history without putting on blinkers.

Syed Faiz, Riyadh published 29 January 2009

Violence in Swat

It is quite evident that the situation in Pakistan’s Swat region is alarming and the Taleban, with all their terror, horror and miseries, are at the doorsteps of major cities such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. If a teacher in Swat is killed brutally because of his arguments regarding keeping trousers above ankles, a mother is killed for going out for teaching to feed her orphan children and a father is killed for petty issues like shaving his beard, then no one is safe in other Pakistani cities once Talibanization is complete.

Pakistanis should realize that the Taleban rule in Afghanistan was the worst and that we Pakistanis were supporting the Taleban government and that we have been the enemy of common innocent Afghan people. If we do not condemn and stop the Taleban and their brutalities today then we Pakistanis will also meet the same fate tomorrow. Pakistanis should condemn this phenomenon of Talibanization and support the struggle of innocent people of Swat. We must condemn the supporters and sympathizers of the Taleban and convey the message of peace across the world.

A.A. Jan, Islamabad published 29 January 2009

Attack on journalists

This is in reference to the report about an attack on four journalists in Indian Hyderabad (Jan. 25). Though it is astonishing and abhorrent, the attack is pretty calculated. The record of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) is full of unbridled rowdyism against its electoral rivals. There is a marked increase in the attempts by MIM and the Shiv Sena to use violence against the print and electronic media in the recent past. I, on behalf of my peace-loving friends in general and the Hyderabadi community in particular, strongly condemn the attack on journalists.

Shajee Nawab, By e-mail published 29 January 2009

Guantanamo

Closing Guantanamo won’t change the horror that was done there. I respect US President Barack Obama for doing the right thing, but that doesn’t help the people who suffered. Now, if there were any good news, it would be the UN charging Donald Rumsfeld for torture. Since George W. Bush has made kidnapping legal, why not take Rumsfeld?

The entire Bush administration should be charged with war crimes. Its actions do not represent most of the American people. The US now has a place in the books of history because of the just-concluded eight years of darkness. I love my country, but the actions of the Bush administration were not what the US is about.

Jackie R., By e-mail published 29 January 2009

Welcome gesture

Obama’s appearance on Al-Arabiya TV was a welcome gesture. However, I was unimpressed by his references to his Muslim heritage, as if it were a wild card that he decided to pull out to get Muslims excited. Spending the first few years of your life in a Muslim country does not give you much understanding or experience.

We can be sure Obama will attempt a thawing of relations with the Muslim world. To what degree? Well, that has yet to be seen.

Ahmad Hussain, Dhahran published 29 January 2009

Let peace reign everywhere

This is in reference to “A letter to Barack Obama” by Faris Al-Asr (Jan. 27). I hope Obama will read the letter in full and fulfill our aspirations. The letter helps us understand the historical significance of the Middle East. We hope Obama will intervene in Middle Eastern affairs to heal the wounds of the Palestinians by finding a solution that will be acceptable to all.

The recent statements of Obama make me optimistic. He says America is not the enemy of Muslims. Obama should use diplomacy and ensure that peace prevails everywhere.

Faisal Babu, Riyadh published 29 January 2009

Suffering in silence

Sixty years and maybe more, and the Arabs are still facing shameful, evil and aggressive behavior from Israel and the United States. They are killing our innocent men, women and children. Israel is destroying Arab hopes, dreams and lives. It is destroying our houses and making us homeless without mercy. Israel and the US characterize Arab-Muslims as terrorists while they humiliate, insult and abuse them. Israel committed, and is still committing, horrible crimes and no one judges it. This was the case even when it used banned substances like white phosphorous on Gaza civilians.

What did the Israelis expect when they stole Palestinian land? Did they expect the Palestinians and Arabs would suffer silently? Surely they will not. Israel and the US cite human rights, yet they simply deny it everyday when they assault and batter helpless people. Even journalists don’t escape their injustice. Israel thinks its people have the strength. Unfortunately, they are children playing silly games publicly. They hide the truth and their disasters as if they are hiding from sunlight. They don’t know what impact the pictures we see everyday on the front pages of Arab News and other newspapers will have on young Muslims. Words no longer work with the occupiers. Let them know that one day the Palestinians will take what is rightfully theirs.

Rola Anwar, Jeddah published 29 January 2009

After the storm

The news stories about aid arriving in Gaza and children returning to school might be encouraging, but they leave one with a disquieting fear that the world will once again lapse into a state of apathy, and the suffering of the Palestinians will continue.

Israel’s 22-day offensive was in truth only an escalation of a much longer war, and the suffering of the Palestinians has not ended with the pullout of Israeli troops from Gaza. For those who have lost family members, homes and a part of themselves through serious injury, the suffering has only just begun. No amount of food and medical aid can heal the kind of pain inflicted on the people of Gaza, nor can such aid or future prosecution, if any, of Israeli officers involved in the massacre bring back lives that have already been lost.

The “clinical” statements offered by Israeli and US government officials defending atrocities against the Palestinians may easily delude one into thinking that we live in a world that is civilized — a world where the apparently powerful United Nations, the European Court of Human Rights, the International Criminal Court and other formidable entities exist like sentinels of justice to ascertain that human rights are not violated, that genocide does not go unpunished and that law and order prevail.

However, the Gaza massacre, among other recent massacres in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, quickly destroys such illusions and reminds us that beneath this very thin veneer of “civilization” seethes an amazing level of inhumanity, barbarity and injustice. Because while men, women and children are mercilessly slaughtered in their homes, the world watches on and none, not even the sentinels, can stand against the oppressors who have been handed a license to kill without reserve.

With respect to the massacres in Gaza, even the media have failed us with many leading media organizations jumping on the rally-around-Israel bandwagon and reporting events in Gaza as though the people of that bleeding city were a different breed, not entitled to the same sympathy and human dignity accorded to the victims of such massacres in other parts of the world.

Numbers are also not the only evidence of the ruthlessness of the Israeli offensive. Before the beginning of the ground offensive, Israeli military tanks stood on the borders of Gaza City, and as the bombs fell on Gaza and oppression became annihilation, the soldiers waiting on the border are reported to have cheered loudly after each distant, thundering boom.

Muniza Ali, Riyadh published 29 January 2009